ISLAMABAD: Justice Aamer Farooq of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday granted post-arrest bail to Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) social media activist Hayat Preghal against Rs1 million surety bond.

The court, however, directed the interior ministry to place Mr Preghal on the exit control list and also instructed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to monitor his social media activities and if it found him doing anything against national interest, it may move a petition for cancellation of his bail.

Justice Farooq reserved the decision on the bail application of Mr Preghal on Tuesday.

During the hearing, Mr Preghal’s counsel Dr Babar Awan contended before the court that his client was innocent and wrongly implicated in the case.

He argued that no material was recovered from the possession of his client during investigation nor was the accused ‘directly nominated in the FIR’.

The FIR registered with the police does not mention Mr Preghal by name but includes URLs of the social media posts he allegedly made from his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

These accounts and Mr Preghal’s mobile phone, laptop and USB were accessed by the FIA’s Cyber Crime Unit during his detention.

Mr Preghal was taken into custody from Dera Ismail Khan on July 5 while he was visiting family during holidays after returning from UAE where he works as a pharmacist.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2018